Jonathan Williams (poet)
Jonathan Williams (March 8, 1929 - March 16, 2008) was an American poet, publisher, essayist, and photographer. He is best known as the founder of the Jargon Society, which has published poetry, experimental fiction, photography, and folk art for more than 50 years. Life Based in Scaly Mountain, North Carolina, and for many years also in the Yorkshire Dales in England, both Williams and his publishing venture had long been associated with the Black Mountain poets. Among the press's offerings are works by Charles Olson, Paul Metcalf, Lorine Niedecker, Lou Harrison, Mina Loy, Joel Oppenheimer, Ronald Johnson, James Broughton, Alfred Starr Hamilton and many other works by the American and British avant-garde. A longtime contributing editor of the photography journal Aperture, Williams lived in Scaly Mountain, North Carolina. He died from pneumonia March 16, 2008, in Highlands, North Carolina.Jonathan Williams, Publisher, Dies at 79, New York Times,March 30, 2008. Writing Once described as "a busy gadfly who happened somehow to pitch on a slope in western North Carolina," Williams was a living link between the experimental poets of Modernism's "2nd wave" and the unknown vernacular artists of Appalachia.Biography of Jonathan Williams. Guy Davenport likened Williams' use of "found language" to the use of "found footage" by avant-garde filmmakers, as well as describing Williams as a species of cultural anthropologist. Williams for his part explained the fascination of such material in plainer terms: :Well, as you know, a lot of my poetry is found and that’s, I think, because I think I’m quite a good listener and I’m willing to lay back and listen, and I think it’s something do with living in the country. I mean, this place, Skywinding Farm, there are times when Tom Meyer and I will only see somebody from the outside world once or twice a week. And we’ve known each other so long that we don’t talk as much as we might. Tom can talk up a storm, He’s up there in the Duncan/Olson class. So I like to listen and I like to hear things, so if you listen carefully then you do find things. I do it all the time. I mean, you know the early book, Blues and Roots, which was done in the course of walking a big piece of the Appalachian Trail, I listened to mountain people for over a thousand miles and I really heard some amazing stuff. And I left it pretty much as I heard it. I didn’t have to do anything but organize a little bit, crystallize it, you know. That’s the thing I love about found material, you wake it up, you “make” it into something. Literary critic Hugh Kenner described Williams as the "truffle hound of American poetry." Publications Poetry *''Amen, Huzza, Selah: Poems''. Highlands, NC: Jargon Society, 1958. *''The Empire Finals at Verona''. Highlands, NC: Jargon Society, 1959. *''Elegies and Celebrations''. Highlands, NC: Jargon Society, 1962. *''Lines about Hills above Lakes: Postals''. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Roman Books, 1964. *''Fifty Epiphytes''. London: Poet & Printer, 1967. *''The Lucidities: Sixteen in visionary company: Poems'' (illustrated by John Furnival). London: Turret Books, 1967 1968. *''An Ear in Bartram's Tree: Selected poems, 1957-1967''. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1969. *''Mahler''. London: Cape Goliard, 1969. * Strung Out with Elgar on a Hill (illustrated by Peter Bodnar). Urbana, IL: Finial Press, 1970. *''The Loco Logodaedalist in Situ: Selected poems, 1968-70''. New York: Cape Goliard, 1971. * Blues & Roots, Rue & Bluets: A garland for the southern Appalachians. New York: Grossman, 1971; **revised edition, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1985. *''Epitaphs for Lorine''. Penland, NC: Jargon Society, 1973. *''Untinears & Antennae: For Maurice Ravel''. St. Paul, MN: Truck Press, 1977. *''Elite / Elate Poems: Selected poems, 1971-1975''. Highlands, NC: Jargon Society, 1979. *''Get Hot or Get Out: A selection of poems, 1957-1981''. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1982. *''Aposiopeses: Odds & Ends''. Minneapolis, MN: Granary Books, 1988. *''Jubilant Thicket: New and selected poems''. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2005. Non-fiction *''Jonathan Williams: Poet, publisher, book designer''. Highlands, NC: J. Williams, 1962. *''The Magpie's Bagpipe: New and selected essays''. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1982. *''In the Azure over the Squalor: Ransakings and shorings''. Frankfort, KY: Gnomon Press, 1985. *''Uncle Gus Flaubert Rates the Jargon Society: In one hundred one laconic présalé sage sentences''. Chapel Hill, NC: Hanes Foundation / University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1989. *''Quote Unquote'' (illustrated by Glen Baxter). Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 1989. *''Eight Days in Eire; or, Nothing so urgent as mañana'' (with photos by Mike Harding). Rocky Mount, NC: North Carolina Wesleyan College Press, 1990. *''Long Taters: Jonathan Williams' quote book, 1994''. Scaly Mountain, NC : Press of Otis the Lamed-Vovnik, 1996. *''A Palpable Elysium: Portraits of genius and solitude''. Boston: Godine, 2002. Photos *''Portrait Photographs''. Frankfort, KY: Gnomon Press, 1979. Collected editions *''Blackbird Dust: Essays, poems, and photography''. New York: Turtle Point Press, 2000. Edited *''Descant on Rawthey's Madrigal; conversations with Basil Bunting''. Lexington, KY: Gnomon Press, 1968. *''Madeira and Toasts: For Basil Bunting's 75th birthday''. Dentdale, NC: Jargon Society, 1977. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Jonathan Williams 1929-2008, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Apr. 28, 2015. See also *Black Mountain poets *List of U.S. poets *List of American book publishers References External links ;Poems *Jonathan Williams 1929-2008 at the Poetry Foundation *Jonathan Williams @ EPC (Electronic Poetry Center) ;Books *Jonathan Williams at Amazon.com * ;Audio / video *Jonathan Williams at YouTube ;About *Jonathan Williams @ NCwriters.org, w/ bibliography *Jonathan Williams: Poet, essayist, publisher obituary, The Independent *The Passing of a Poet: Jonathan Williams, 79, Avant-garde Poet, Publisher, and Photographer *The Lord of Orchards: Jonathan Williams at 80, edited by Jeffery Beam and Richard Owens. An appreciative survey of Williams' life and work including some never before published photos by Williams, and many new and recovered essays about his life and work as a poet, photographer, critic, art collector, and publisher. *A life in pictures: Jonathan Williams A series of photographs documenting Jonathan Williams' life *Tales of a Jargonaut an interview with Jonathan Williams by Jeffery Beam, 2003; also at Tales of a Jargonaut ;Etc. *The Jargon Society links include current updates and musings from Williams *A Snowflake Orchard a personal history of Jargon by poet Jeffery Beam which appeared originally in the North Carolina Literary Review w/bibliography Category:1929 births Category:2008 deaths Category:American poets Category:LGBT writers from the United States Category:Black Mountain College alumni Category:Black Mountain poets Category:American book publishers (people) Category:20th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets